Improvement in padlocks



" UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JAMES E. THOMSON, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN PADLOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 114,757, datcd October18, 1864.

Toall whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES E. THOMSON, of the city of Buii'alo, countyofErie, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and ImprovedSafety-Lock; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full .andexact description thereof, reference heilig had to the accompanyingdra-win gs, making a part of this speciication, in which- Figure I is afront elevation of alock with my improvement combined therewith. Fig. Ilis a perspective of the same. Fig. III is an interior view of theworking parts of the lock.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each ofthe figures.

The nature of this invention relates to the combination ofa device whichI call a sealholden7 with a lock, which device will securely hold a sealor signature paper over the keyhole of the lock, which seal or signaturemust be penetrated by the key and broken before the lock can he opened.

A represents a padlock of ordinary construction in its general form andworking parts; A', internal working parts ofthe lock.

B represents one form ot' my improved device or sealholder, which issoconstructed as to form a chamber or recess, as shown at b', forreceiving),` a seal or signature. It has also a door, (represented at112,) which is provided with a spring-catch, b3, for locking the door,and a iiy-spring, b4, for throwing the door open when unlocked.Akey-hole is made through this door, as shown at b5, which, when thedoor is shut, is in juxtaposition with the keyhole in the lock, so thatwhen the key is in# serted it will penetrate through both. When thisdoor is shut, it locks itself by means ofthe spring-catch b3, and canonly be opened by the same key which opens the lock. The spurs c catchinto and hold the seal or paper.

This invention is applicable to any kind or quality of lock, and isdesigned to render any form or construction of lock a safety-lock, sothat it cannot be unlawfully opened without detection, and is applicablefor mail-locks, revenue-locks, warehouse-locks, and indeed forall\places where a safety-lock is required.

I use this device constructed with a cham ber or recess, by preference;but it is evident that the door itself, or its equivalent, could be usedwithout any chamber or recess and shut upon the face of the lock andhold the seal over and upon the key-hole, and hence the main ideavof myinvention is to securely hold a seal over the key-hole of a lock in sucha manner that the seal must be broken when the lock is opened.

Operation The lock is closed by the proper person, with the door b2open, as shown in Fig. II. A seal or signature paper, or any substancewhich may be broken by the key, is then placed in the chamber bf, sothat it completely covers the key-hole of the lock. The door b2 is thenclosed, which shuts down upon the seal or signature paper and holds itsecurely over and upon the keyhole. Now it is impossible for any one toopen the lock without thrusting the key through this seal or paper andbreakin g the same, and hence when this improvement is used for thesecurity of mailbags or to prevent fraud upon the revenue laws, or otherpurpose, the officer or person in charge locks up the same, puts hisseal or signature into the seal-holder, as before de` scribed, andcloses the seal holder. Now no person can open the lock without breaking the seal, and hence if it has been unlawfully or clandestinely opened,the officer or person in charge, and whose business it is to open thelock, quickly discovers the fact, which will quickly lead to thedetection or discovery of the offending party or parties. A suitablecover may be provided for the key-hole b5.

I do not intend to limit myself to the precise form and' construction ofmy improve ment as herein described as it may be varied in details ofconstruction without departing from the principle of my invention.

I therefore claim as my invention- A sealholder, in combination withalock, for the purposes and substantially as described.

JAS. E. THOMSON.

Vitnesses:

E. B. FoRBUsH, GEO. W. WALLACE.

